The Business of Portfolio Management with PMI Fellow Iain Fraser
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In this episode of the podcast, I had the chance to speak with Iain about his book, how his experiences in working in Portfolio, Program and Project management have evolved over time. How business agility fits into the work he does and the great impact that volunteering has had on his career. When you are listening to this interview, one thing I hope you will take not of is how Iain talks about the various aspects of business agility. His use of traditional practices, Lean and agile practices are all aimed at helping organizations develop greater adaptability at the business portfolio level. These various practices are discussed (and employed) without a value judgement being placed on any of them. They are used as needed all in the service of helping organizations learn to cope with change.
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Iain Fraser is a PMI Fellow, a former Chair of the PMI Board of Directors and the author of The Business of Portfolio Management. The book focuses on helping businesses deepen their perception of business portfolio management, and how strengthening their practices in that area can help them thrive in a business world where the only constant is change. 
The Business of Portfolio ManagementBook Review: Agile and Lean Program Management
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Never Fear! Help is on the way! Johanna Rothman’s new book, Agile and Lean Program Management provides a pragmatic explanation of how to enable Agile at the Program and Portfolio level. Rothman is a seasoned and well respected expert in the Agile space but she got her start in traditional project management. This is something that pervades all of her work. She stands firmly in the Agile camp, but provides advice and guidance that offers a variety of options as well as her preferred approach as an Agile coach and thought leader. Agile and Lean Program Management provides great coaching advice and tips for dealing with the challenge of transforming your organization. The way the book is broken down will also make it easy for you to turn to specific portions in your time of need. A great example of this is in Chapter 9 which focuses on Estimation. Rothman goes beyond the usual advice of t-shirt sizing or story points. She begins by exploring why your organization is looking for estimates in the first place and offers guidance on how to approach questioning senior leadership about what they need the estimates for in the first place. She explains the estimation discussion from the Agile side, but takes care to stay rooted in idea of helping your organization get the information it needs to make decisions. This section should be very enlightening to anyone from the traditional side of the house who is struggling with Agile estimation (at any level). In additional to tactical advice, Agile and Lean Program Management also digs into the soft-skills that are necessary to help an organization cope with Agile and offers tips on topics like “Problems You May Encounter with Architects” and teams who are trying to multitask. My favorite part of the book is the last few chapters because I believe that offers some of the most valuable advice for anyone working in an organization that is struggling with Agile at it scales up the food chain. Johanna Rothman offers chapters on Troubleshooting Agile Team Issues, Integrating Agile and Non-Agile Teams and What To Do if Agile and Lean are Not Right for You. This is where Rothman stands out as an thought leader / ambassador who is focused on helping those from the traditional side begin working towards a more Agile state. Without judgement she simply offers practical advice and suggestions on how to begin with a few simple steps. Agile and Lean Program Management is available on If you’d like to check out a recent podcast interview with Johanna Rothman on her new book and the Influential Agile Leader workshops she is doing with Gil Broza, you can find it here. And if you’d like more on Johanna… |
